Working Paper: NBER ID: w28205
Authors: Noam Angrist; Peter Bergman; Moitshepi Matsheng
Abstract: Schools closed extensively during the COVID-19 pandemic and occur in other settings, such as teacher strikes and natural disasters. This paper provides some of the first experimental evidence on strategies to minimize learning loss when schools close. We run a randomized trial of low-technology interventions – SMS messages and phone calls – with parents to support their child. The combined treatment cost-effectively improves learning by 0.12 standard deviations. We develop remote assessment innovations, which show robust learning outcomes. Our findings have immediate policy relevance and long-run implications for the role of technology and parents as partial educational substitutes when schooling is disrupted.
Keywords: learning loss; low-tech interventions; COVID-19; education; SMS; phone calls
JEL Codes: I10; I20; I24; I25
Edges that are evidenced by causal inference methods are in orange, and the rest are in light blue.
| Cause | Effect |
|---|---|
| learning in one area (Y80) | facilitates learning in another area (Y80) |
| combined intervention (C36) | learning gains (A21) |
| SMS plus phone call intervention (L96) | increase in learning outcomes (I24) |
| SMS only intervention (L96) | increase in learning outcomes (I24) |
| SMS plus phone call intervention (L96) | direct instruction (Y20) |
| direct instruction (Y20) | increase in learning outcomes (I24) |
| prior educational programming participation (I24) | confounding (C90) |